News / Ripples from IT outage could spread through supply chains 'for weeks'

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The disruption and delays to air cargo services due to the global IT outage has highlighted supply chain vulnerability, and “could take days or even weeks to fully resolve”, according to Xeneta. 

On Friday, a faulty update to Microsoft cyber-security software, authored by Texas firm Crowdstrike, saw global supply chain operations temporarily stunted across all modes.  

The IT issue saw thousands of flights grounded or delayed at the largest air freight hubs in Europe, Asia and North America. 

Xeneta’s chief airfreight officer, Niall van de Wouw, said: “Air supply chains are highly complex, so a global disruption of this scale could have a severe impact. Planes and cargo are not where they are supposed to be, and it will take days or even weeks to fully resolve. 

“These incidents can take three times as long to resolve as the length of time they last, but that is very much dependent on the scale of the IT failure and the market conditions at the time it occurs,” he explained. 

And Mr van de Wouw warned that the impact could be exacerbated by the limited airfreight capacity currently available – global demand in June increased by 13% compared with the same month in 2023, according to Xeneta data. 

“Available capacity in the market is already limited, so airlines are going to struggle to move cargo tomorrow that should have been moved [on Friday].” 

However, a spokersperson from Heathrow Airport told The Loadstar: “Operations quickly returned to business as usual. While some systems for some airport partners were impacted by the global IT issues on Friday morning, contingencies were put in place and flights continued to operate.” 

Meanwhile, seaport operations seem to have been less affected than airports. Project 44 noted that disruptions impacting rail and ocean transport were “minimal”. 

Xeneta’s senior shipping analyst, Emily Stausbøll, explained: “An IT failure has a more immediate impact on air freight due to the regularity with which planes transit through airports each day. In contrast, containerships can be at sea for weeks before they enter a port.” 

Indeed, Lars Jensen, CEO of Vespucci Maritime, said on Saturday: “The Crowdstrike incident appears for now to have had limited impact on container shipping… it would seem the ripples on airlines could be larger.” 

Ms Stausbøll told The Loadstar that while data did not indicate a significant increase in the number of ships waiting to enter affected ports, such as Los Angeles and Rotterdam, the main problems could lie inland, with truck and rail services.  

“If there are issues getting containers in or out of the port, this could increase congestion,” she explained.  

Eversteam Analytics added: “Localised increases in port and airport congestion, as well as cargo processing delays at affected facilities, should be anticipated in the coming days.” 

According to its data, affected ports included Gothenburg, Felixstowe, Dover, Gdansk, Genoa, Aarhus, Valencia, Los Angeles, Mobile and Port Elizabeth.  

Whilst most global operations are now back up and running, Mr van de Wouw believed Friday’s outage was yet another reminder of the vulnerability in supply chains. 

“We have seen in 2024 how vulnerable our global maritime supply chains are, following the disruption caused by conflict in the Red Sea. Now we see vulnerabilities exposed in our air supply chains due to IT failure.  

“We benefit greatly from technology and have grown dependent on it – but there is a price to pay when things go wrong,” he said.